Gene expression analysis of laser-captured epithelium and stroma from FVB mice and HPV16 E6/E7 transgenic mice under estrogen or control treatment regimens.. Mus musculus

Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0 arrays were used to measure genome-wide gene expression levels. The results show that high-risk human papillomavirus oncogenes E6 and E7 reprogram the cervical cancer microenvironment independently of and synergistically with estrogen, a critical co-factor in cervical cancer development and maintenance. Several potential estrogen-induced paracrine-acting factors were identified in the expression profile of the cervical tumor microenvironment. The microenvironment of estrogen-treated HPV-transgenic mice was significantly enriched for chemokine/cytokine activity and inflammatory and immune functions associated with carcinogenesis. Overall design: Female reproductive tracts from wild type FVB and HPV16 E6/E7 transgenic mice were cryosectioned and used for laser-capture of cervical tissue. The mRNA levels were measured for a total set of 32 captures (5 untreated normal epithelium and stroma; 7 untreated transgenic epithelium and stroma; 3 estrogen-treated normal stroma; 5 estrogen-treated transgenic stroma).